Claiming the dream : a study of pushed out students becoming reengaged in school work

Many educators consider engaging the disengaged student to be one of the biggest challenges currently facing public schools in the United States. Last year 8,300 students dropped out of school every day. The dropout rate of 30% has a deep and wide-ranging impact on the long-term economic outlook for the United States. The dropout dilemma in this country cost billions of dollars due to the loss of productive workers, loss of earnings, the loss of generated revenue, the costs of health care, social services, drug abuse, and the high cost associated with increased incarceration. This trend cannot continue as these losses continue to grow generation after generation. This crisis requires immediate attention from all areas of the education community. To alleviate this problem we must keep the students in school and recover those who have become disengaged and dropped out. Much research has been done addressing the causes for students to become disengaged. Little has been researched to address the reasons students reengage in school. The purpose of the study was to determine the factors influencing students to return to school and pursue their high school diploma. This study followed qualitative methodologies by allowing disengaged students to give voice to determine what affected the student's eventual reengagement in school. Teachers of disengaged students participated by lending voice in sharing their philosophies and techniques proven to be effective with these students. The participants of this study shared experiences and insights into the factors leading to disengagement and reengagement. This research credits adults, particularly parents and teachers, as being essential to the recovery of disengaged students. The information gathered by this research will be helpful in the design of workshops for all teachers, especially those working with the disengaged. The findings would be useful when considering the design of programs directed at preventing disengagement and encouraging reengagement of high school students.